Approximately thirty percent of medication prescriptions are never filled. In addition, approximately fifty percent of medications for chronic disease are not taken as prescribed. This lack of adherence has dramatic effects on health. Non-adherence has been estimated to cost the U.S. health care system $200 billion annually. As one example, in ophthalmology, compliance to the medication plan, also referred to as the medication regimen, is vital for preventing visual loss and blindness that may result from chronic conditions such as glaucoma. Almost seventy-five percent of patients admit to some form of noncompliant behavior, over thirty percent do not fill their prescriptions, and nearly fifty percent discontinue their prescriptions within six months.
While forgetfulness is one barrier to medication adherence, it is not the only barrier. In addition, taking the medication at the wrong time, stopping too early, or taking the wrong dose also represent other serious barriers. Unfortunately, there are no effective systems for managing adherence to a medication regimen which can be vital for maintaining or improving health.
The drawings have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures, such as the elements of the medication device embodiments of FIGS. 1-4 and 12-15 or the medicine dispensing system of FIG. 6, may be expanded or reduced to help improve the understanding of the embodiments of the present invention. Similarly, some components and/or operations may be separated into different blocks or combined into a single block for the purposes of discussion of some of the embodiments of the present invention. Moreover, while the invention is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are described in detail below. The intention, however, is not to limit the invention to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.